I'm not too worried. I grew up in Europe when Mad cow was all over. We ate tons of beef then and still do now. Not a single person died from it. We
aren't allowed to donate blood because we lived there during that time and it "might" still be in our system.

Actually a bunch of people have died from Mad Cow. But thankfully not even remotely as many as was feared.

It turns out you need to have a genetic susceptibility and be exposed to the BSE prions to develop it.

Although one might look at the increasing incidence of dementia and start to wonder if maybe more people have that genetic susceptability than the
government let on to.

originally posted by: NthOther
Unfortunately you referenced Natural News, which means we can't take anything else in the post seriously.

Bummer.

Whats up with all the hate for natural news but no mention at all of the NYT citation?

This seems really bizarre and makes no sense at all.

EDIT:

Just came across this post:

originally posted by: Aazadan
I'll give you a hint. If a website routinely sources WND, Infowars, Natural News, Shadowstats, Zero Hedge, and so on... the information isn't going
to be credible.

Naturally one has to wonder WHY are so many here trusting what the MSM is saying while any source that is Christian is ignored.

This makes no sense at all...

Because the Christian websites, the Infowars, the WND, have demonstrably repeatedly made up so much stuff, over and over again, they just lie
constantly. So even when they say something that might be compelling, it has to be treated very cautiously.

If somebody tells you 99 lies and one truth, you don't believe that one truth normally do you.

Well, unless his name is 'Trump', in which case apparently a lot of people do. But hey.

If hospitals know that surgical instruments are used on someone with CJD, the instruments are disposed of. It's well known that prions are nearly
impossible to kill and will continue to live quiet merrily on decontaminated surgical instruments.
As this is a conspiracy website, some believe that cattle mutilations were in fact the US government secretly testing for diseases amongst cattle
heards!!
I'm a happy meat eater

Prion disease is a disconcerting thing to have to add to the list of food worries such as toxins and pesticide contamination and the like.
The potential is there to cause a catastrophic loss of life to humanity if it were endemic to say the beef or chicken supply and was somehow able to
slip through the cracks in testing.

Would our government even admit to an issue if for example it was discovered that everyone who ate chicken within the last ten years was now infected
and could expect dementia in twenty years or so?

I eat a lot of wild game like venison and now Chronic Wasting Disease is spreading through the deer population in my state, the worry is there in the
back of my mind that I’ve already got these proteins in my body causing damage or lying dormant just waiting for some time in the future to strike.

I will still continue to eat it though, there’s nothing to be done about it, kind of like worrying about a comet one day destroying the planet.
A dudes gotta eat , right?

Lately, I have been reducing my consumption of all meat due to the fact that I have simply lost my taste for it on a daily basis. The reduction of
meat in one's diet is called "Flexitarianism", or semi-vegetarianism. I also find when I do purchase meat it is of a higher quality now. I would also
like to see more research and studies on the effects of reducing meat in one's diet.

I am a meat reducer. I can’t stand that term, but I am. You might have another word for what I’m calling myself – perhaps a slightly more
undesirable one....but as ridiculous as it sounds, the proper term is flexitarianism. It’s something that’s been growing in numbers rapidly, and
now 35 per cent of people Britain say they are “semi-vegetarian”, according to data from Mintel. The only parameters are that you only
occasionally eat meat and fish. I eat more fish than I ever have done and probably only eat chicken, red meat or pork – at the most – twice a
week, with Saturday morning usually starting off with a bacon sandwich. The meat I do eat is of a higher quality than when I first started cooking for
myself, back when getting the cheapest meat was my top priority.

John Stauber, an activist and co-author of the book "Mad Cow USA," said the new research should be especially sobering in a nation he believes is
ignoring a possible dangerous public health threat. "The implications of prion diseases potentially (spreading) via contaminated agricultural plants
is mind-boggling," Stauber said. "Imagine people, wildlife or livestock eating a cereal or vegetable that could years or decades later cause an
incurable, fatal brain disease." "The best scientists have always warned that with prions, all bets are off. There is no other deadly disease agent
as bizarre or invisible. Unfortunately, federal and state food and wildlife agencies have been ignoring the prion threat, downplaying its human health
risks, cutting back on research, and pretending this will all go away. It won't."

Here is a more recent study and they are just scratching the surface of the molecular workings of prions and how they may be of benefit to cells.

When cells are stressed, for example because they are starved of nutrients, their energy level drops. This leads to a decrease of the cytosolic pH
value - the cells acidify. In response, cell division stops, the metabolism shuts down and cells enter into stand-by mode. When the stress is over,
cells must rapidly reprogram their metabolism and restart growth and division. Prof. Simon Alberti and his colleagues found out that the Sup35 prion
domain is important for stress survival. "We found that cells lacking the prion domain show a growth defect when recovering from stress", summarizes
Titus Franzmann, the first author of the study. Read more at: phys.org...

Titus Franzmann concludes: "The study suggests that prion domains are protein-specific stress sensors that allow cells to respond to specific
environmental conditions. In that way, we could show for the first time a positive function of a prion domain that has often only been associated with
disease-causing aggregates. So maybe that's the reason why evolution has kept them for so long." Read more at:
phys.org...

So, if environment is key, then by my stretch of the imagination, could a body afflicted with high yeast/fungus (Candida Albicans) actually contribute
to prions clumping together to create these disease-causing aggregates? I think we need more in-depth research in this field.

For example, Candida can exist in at least two different forms. The yeast form survives well in acidic conditions, while the fungal form thrives in a
neutral or alkaline pH. As the conditions in your intestines change, Candida is able to switch between these two forms and survive dramatic
alterations in its environment. Another way that Candida adapts is by adjusting the pH of its immediate environment. It releases metabolites like
ammonia that actively raise the pH of its surroundings, enabling Candida albicans to switch from its yeast form to its fungal form. Anyone familiar
with Lyme disease will have heard of biofilms. These protective matrices are created by pathogens like Candida and Lyme to protect themselves from
your body’s immune system. Just like Lyme, Candida albicans creates these in your intestines and builds its colonies inside them. Lastly, there is
evidence suggesting that Candida albicans physically changes its cell walls when it comes into contact with an acidic environment, and uses these
changes to hide even more effectively from your immune system.

So, it is really a question of cooking temperature, length of time cooking, and conditions of the cooking environment, like what sauces or juices or
tenderizing agents are used. Of course, you don't want to use such extreme cooking conditions that the food is entirely destroyed, which is why I
suggest using a known tenderizer. This allows you to cook at lower temperature, and still dissociate the protein into their amino acids before you eat
the meat.

Typically, the body does this for you, it breaks down the protein into amino acids in the digestive tract, it doesn't absorb whole protein from the
stomach. The problem with the prions, as I understand it, is that when they come into contact with the protein in the cell walls of the stomach, they
"induce" your own normal proteins to convert and transform into prions. You're not actually absorbing the prions into your blood stream from your
stomach, you're making them under the influence of "proximity" to the bad prions that "get close" to your flesh. Like how a magnet will induce a piece
of iron to become magnetic itself, the prions are like biochemical magnets. That suggests just the act of shaking someone's hands could transmit the
prions to your body. Since, it's not about absorbing the molecules, it's about being influenced by them when you're nearby.

There are examples of surgical equipment going through an autoclave to "clean" the instruments with the prions surviving. If someone needs surgery,
best to ask many questions of the surgeon about processes and risks.

Surgical Exposure to a Brain-Eating Protein: A Small but Unavoidable Risk

Infectious agents called prions can resist standard sterilization and are difficult to diagnose, posing tough challenges for hospitals

John Stauber, an activist and co-author of the book "Mad Cow USA," said the new research should be especially sobering in a nation he believes is
ignoring a possible dangerous public health threat. "The implications of prion diseases potentially (spreading) via contaminated agricultural plants
is mind-boggling," Stauber said. "Imagine people, wildlife or livestock eating a cereal or vegetable that could years or decades later cause an
incurable, fatal brain disease." "The best scientists have always warned that with prions, all bets are off. There is no other deadly disease agent
as bizarre or invisible. Unfortunately, federal and state food and wildlife agencies have been ignoring the prion threat, downplaying its human health
risks, cutting back on research, and pretending this will all go away. It won't."

Here is a more recent study and they are just scratching the surface of the molecular workings of prions and how they may be of benefit to cells.

When cells are stressed, for example because they are starved of nutrients, their energy level drops. This leads to a decrease of the cytosolic pH
value - the cells acidify. In response, cell division stops, the metabolism shuts down and cells enter into stand-by mode. When the stress is over,
cells must rapidly reprogram their metabolism and restart growth and division. Prof. Simon Alberti and his colleagues found out that the Sup35 prion
domain is important for stress survival. "We found that cells lacking the prion domain show a growth defect when recovering from stress", summarizes
Titus Franzmann, the first author of the study. Read more at: phys.org...

Titus Franzmann concludes: "The study suggests that prion domains are protein-specific stress sensors that allow cells to respond to specific
environmental conditions. In that way, we could show for the first time a positive function of a prion domain that has often only been associated with
disease-causing aggregates. So maybe that's the reason why evolution has kept them for so long." Read more at:
phys.org...

So, if environment is key, then by my stretch of the imagination, could a body afflicted with high yeast/fungus (Candida Albicans) actually contribute
to prions clumping together to create these disease-causing aggregates? I think we need more in-depth research in this field.

For example, Candida can exist in at least two different forms. The yeast form survives well in acidic conditions, while the fungal form thrives in a
neutral or alkaline pH. As the conditions in your intestines change, Candida is able to switch between these two forms and survive dramatic
alterations in its environment. Another way that Candida adapts is by adjusting the pH of its immediate environment. It releases metabolites like
ammonia that actively raise the pH of its surroundings, enabling Candida albicans to switch from its yeast form to its fungal form. Anyone familiar
with Lyme disease will have heard of biofilms. These protective matrices are created by pathogens like Candida and Lyme to protect themselves from
your body’s immune system. Just like Lyme, Candida albicans creates these in your intestines and builds its colonies inside them. Lastly, there is
evidence suggesting that Candida albicans physically changes its cell walls when it comes into contact with an acidic environment, and uses these
changes to hide even more effectively from your immune system.

One day we won't use any live creatures for food, instead we'll grow parts from cellular cultures or other means--to live longer and more cheaply.
This planet will either be a spaceship or we'll be living almost exclusively in artificial environments. Everything will be monitored--every square
inch of Earth--and engineered. The planet will be like a hospital patient 24/7. Eventually you'll have to live off planet to escape the draconian laws
on Earth.

There might be a time--I don't know how far away--when our bodies aren't biological anymore. They will keep figuring out our mind until they know how
to transfer it and replicate on computers. If there's anything better than biology alone, we'll use it instead as our vessel. That will further free
us up to live more strangely than ever imagined.

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